A Peek into Summers County’s Past: Earl Jones

SUMMERS COUNTY W.Va. (Hinton News) – This week’s piece has a bit of a more personal twist to it. Earl Jones was my great-grandfather and is the man you see here. I never had the opportunity to meet him as he lived in Clearwater, Florida, with his wife, my step-great-grandmother Ruth Smith Jones.

An odd twist to the story occurred around 2006 when I came home with my best friend James Leftwich from college. His Uncle Steve happened to be there from Charleston and asked me if my Great Grandfather was Earl Jones.

I said yes, his son Gene Jones was my grandfather. To keep a long story short, Earl married Ruth Smith. Ruth was James’ great aunt, and lived in the Charleston area where he worked for the Greyhound Transport Company for years. Upon retirement they relocated to Clearwater, Florida.

My grandfather Gene Jones passed away in 1991. His father Earl died in 1995 and his step mother Ruth passed in 2003. Over the years I have acquired several family mementos through Steve and Richard Leftwich. They put me in touch with Ruth’s niece Missy who also provided me with several items. As big of a history fanatic as I am I never put the connection together until then.

Among these items were various photos of Earl, his baby shoes, bible and other important documents such his fathers funeral card whose name was Willard R. Jones. My fathers middle name is “Willard” and he never knew the importance of it until getting this document 6 years ago. His cufflinks and lighter were from the Greyhound Transport Company.

And his antique golf trophies, apparently, he was quite a prolific golfer. I found several articles in the newspaper archives about him and his golfing adventures. You see, he and Ruth would come home to Summers County on weekends as Ruth’s family was from here. While here, he would enter competitions at Willow Wood Country Club.

One such article was from The Leader in Hinton, WV, on June 3, 1948, titled “Charleston Golfer Wins By 7 Strokes.” The first two paragraphs of this article tell me just how fantastic a golfer he was. “A bespectacled, middle-aged swinger from Charleston, Earl Jones by name, captured the second annual West Virginia Elks golf tournament at Hinton’s Willow Wood Country Club yesterday.” 

“Jones, whose effortless swing and down-the-middle put him out front in the first round and drew a gallery of followers for the last 18 holes, fired nine-over-par 225 for the 54 holes. The trophies you see here are from his different golfing wins over his career. The large one, I am not sure about, as it is unmarked. However, the little trophy is marked “State Champion W. Va. B.P.O.E. 1948.”